This Copycat Hostess Ding Dong Cake recipe is a rich, decadent chocolate cake, with a creamy filling and chocolate ganache spread over the top! So easy, you’ll love it!
Remember Hostess Suzy Q’s? These Chocolate Whoopie Pies remind me of that classic treat! Or try our easy homemade hostess cupcakes next!
Why Make a Ding Dong Cake
Growing up my mom would buy us Little Debbie oatmeal cream pies and Hostess snacks for our lunch boxes. We never knew what she would come home with, but I always got a little giddy when a box of Ding Dongs were in the cabinet.
Two layers or chocolate cake with a cream filling, all coated in chocolate ganache.
Look familiar? Today’s Ding Dong Cake is just that, only….bigger!
How to Make a Ding Dong Cake
Bake the Cakes. Start by baking up two 9-inch chocolate cakes. I used my favorite chocolate cake recipe for this, so fudgy and perfect. If you choose to go with a boxed mix, make sure it’s a rich and fudgy version, like a Devil’s Food cake.
Cream Filling. Next you’ll make the cream filling. It’s a less sweet buttercream frosting, sometimes called Ermine frosting. A friend at our old church called it boiled milk frosting. But I think that sounds gross, so let’s call it cream filling.
You’ll first put your cold milk and flour in a small saucepan and whisk until the lumps are gone. Heat this up until thick, stirring the whole time. You want to keep stirring and heating until it becomes thick, almost like pudding. Be patient.
Once your milk mixture is thick, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. COOL. Very important here. You don’t want this warm and melting your butter in the next step.
In a mixing bowl, cream your butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Slowly add in the COOLED milk mixture, beating until it resembles a thick whipped cream or frosting. Don’t be scared if it initially appears curdled, keep beating!
Assemble. Spread this thick layer of cream filling between your two cooled chocolate cake layers.
Cover in Ganache. Whip up some chocolate ganache (follow recipe instructions below) and pour it over the top and sides. Allow it set, and enjoy.
More Copycat Recipes
- Decadent and delicious, these Copycat Hostess Cupcakes are better than the original! Fudgy with a cream filling, just like the original!
- These Flourless Chocolate Cookies are a chewy cookie with a crunchy topping! You’ll love the rich chocolate flavor in a unique cookie! Move over Starbucks, we’ve got a copycat recipe on our hands!
- Making Homemade Cracker Jack popcorn is super easy and delicious! Sweet and crunchy, this addictive caramel corn is better than the original!
- The BEST Red Velvet Cheesecake Cake recipe starts with two layers of homemade red velvet cake with a layer of cheesecake in the middle. Topped with delicious cream cheese frosting and white chocolate curls!
- Delicious, easy, copycat Twinkie Cake recipe made with yellow cake and sweet whipped cream filling. The perfect, not overly sweet, cake recipe!
Easy Cake Recipes
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Ding Dong Cake Recipe
Ingredients
For the cake:
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened dark chocolate cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup strong brewed coffee cooled
- ½ cup milk
For the cream filling:
- 5 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
For the ganache:
- 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate morsels 12 ounce
- 1 ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
For the cake:
- Spray two 9-inch cake pans with baking spray. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.
- In a measuring cup, combine cooled coffee with milk*. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar for 5 minutes with an electric mixer. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Slowly add in dry ingredients and alternate with the coffee/milk mixture (about 3 additions of each).
- Once all the ingredients are added, beat cake mixture for about 2-3 minutes until fluffy (scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed).
- Divide cake batter into the two cake pans. Bake in oven for 25 minutes. Remove and allow to cool about 10 minutes in pan. Invert on a wire rack and cool completely.
For the cream filling:
- In a small saucepan, combine the flour with milk, whisking until lumps removed. Turn on medium heat and continue to whisk until mixture becomes thick, like a pudding.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Cool completely.
- In a mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar, beat until light and fluffy (about 4 minutes). Slowly add in the COOLED milk mixture, beating until combined. It may curdle slightly in the beginning, that’s okay, keep beating until it becomes the texture of whipped cream!
For the ganache:
- In a glass bowl (safe for the microwave) combine semi sweet chocolate with heavy cream. Heat for 1 minute. Remove from microwave and stir until smooth (you may need to heat for another 15-30 seconds). Do not over heat. Set aside while you begin to assemble the cake.
To assemble:
- Place first layer of cooled cake on a cake plate. Top it with ALL of the cream filling. Add the second layer of cake on top.
- Slowly pour the ganache over the cake, using an offset spatula to help cover the top and sides. Allow to set, about 15 minutes. Slice and enjoy!
Notes
- The coffee in the cake does NOT give it a coffee flavor, it just boosts the chocolate flavor. If you desire, you can replace the 1/2 cup of coffee with an additional 1/2 cup of milk instead (making the total amount 1 cup of milk)
- Freeze Cake. Wrap slices of cake in plastic wrap and slide into freezer safe ziploc bag or airtight container. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in refrigerator and serve.
Video
Nutrition
This Copycat Hostess Ding Dong Cake recipe is a rich, decadent chocolate cake, with a creamy filling and chocolate ganache spread over the top!
Do you store in fridge or counter?
I prefer to keep this cake in the fridge.
Can I make the cream filling a couple days before using?
I just made this cake a few days ago, its beautiful and amazing taste similar to a ding dong, especially the middle part. Only thing I will do a bit different is make the ganache frosting a tiny bit thicker, would love for it to harden a bit. Very popular cake in my family now!
Hi, I made the Ding Dong Cake for my grandsons birthday. Cake turned out perfect as well as filling. But when I made the ganache it didn’t thicken enough. I put it in microwave for more time but hasn’t thickened enough the it can be spread. It’s too runny. Any ideas?
Let it sit and cool Ganache will thicken up the longer it sits to the point where you can beat it and frost a cake.
You can try adding some powdered sugar. This may help thicken your ganache..
I’ve made this cake twice now!
No issues at all and everyone loves it! This will be a regular for our get together and parties for sure! Thank you!
Thank you for your beautiful recipes I love going back to try something else. Your recipes inspire me to cook more. I made your ding dong cake my family and friends they
love it I made it two times it went in 2 days.
This recipe was perfect. It looked exactly like a ding dong when cut into. The filling was extremely similar to the texture of a ding dongs. Its light and almost marshmalloey. The cake altogether is really rich and so delicious! The whole family loved it.
Hey there. Thanks so much for sharing. I tried the filling recipe. It tasted terrific, however, it was a bit runny because of separation. What might I have done wrong. I’d LOVE to know, so I can make this again properly. Humble respects, Sherree…
SOunds like you didn’t beat it long enough. It first curdles and separates, then comes together like whipped cream.
I just made this for my son’s birthday and it was delicious and a big hit. It also tasted just like a Ding Dong! I made the cake first and froze it overnight. The next day I made the filling and ganache and assembled the cake while still frozen. I served it on the 3rd day because I believe the flavors meld better when allowed to sit. Also, I stored the cake at room temperature. I’ll be making this one again.
I made this 2 time today and no matter how much I sprayed the pan I couldn’t get the cake out of the pan. Not a good recipe won’t try again
Sounds like an issue with your pans or your spray. Was it baking spray? Maybe greasing and flouring your pans would work better.
Try spraying the pan, then cutting parchment paper to fit, then spray again before pouring the batter. That always helps me.
Use Wilton cake release. I’ve never had a problem with any cake using it.
It’s not the recipe…it’s either your pans or what you used to grease them. Line your pans with parchment paper and you’ll never have an issue.
My filling is not thick. I’m afraid when i out the top layer on it’s all going to ooze out! Is it possible to beat it too much?! I need help! It’s for my Dads birthday today! Haha why did i wait? Thanks
shorten and flour your pans side, than line bottom of pans with wax paper circle. Just set pan on wax paper draw around and cut out for your liners.
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This cake is amazing! So chocolaty without being overly sweet. The filling was fluffy and went so well with the chocolate.
Wonderful. Loved it But would Lv to know how to Make filling fluffier , not packed ???? Suggestion?
use evaporated milk
My old “The Settlement Cook Book” has a recipe for devil dogs and the filling tastes exactly like it. As I remember with Ding Dong’s the filling didn’t taste buttery. Anyway, this is the one I used and it is very easy and you wouldn’t think from having evaporated milk. 1/3 c. evaporated milk, 2/3 cup shortening, 1/2 c sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Mix w/electric mixer at high speed for 5 minutes. Double for the cake or triple. It doesn’t taste like much by itself but in the cake you will see what I mean.
Oh my goodness, this was amazing, I did use a box cake mix……( cake mix, 3 eggs, 1 cup water, and 1 cup Mayo.) and then added espresso powder…..and keep whipping the cream it does come together……Just took longer then I thought…lol….
This is the same recipe that Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond published a few years ago. She called it Chocolate Devils.
I made the ding dong cake and it was amazing I wish I could share the photo
Cake is great! Icing needs work. It oozed out everywhere.
I’m going to use another Icing recipe next time. Loved the cake tho!
If the ganache is too thin, put the bowl back in the refrigerator. Also all cakes do best frosted when chilled. Put your cake in the freezer. Then lay plastic wrap under a screen on a tray, pour the cooled ganache on the chilled cake. Tap the rack the cake is sitting on, to even out the ganache. It works every time.
I made this cake for my wife’s birthday. We loved the chocolate cake and ganache but felt the cream filling was way to much butter, maybe half a cup would have been better? It got buttery and hard after refrigeration.
The cake idea was great and the assembly was fine. The cream filling was average the ganache with simple. However the chocolate cake recipe itself was inedible. I actually ended up throwing away that cake and baking my standard chocolate cake. It was dry and and didn’t really rise up like a normal cake. I still gave its four stars because the idea is fantastic and the other facets were fine I just needed to replace the cake recipe.
It didn’t say to flour the pan, I thought that was strange but I followed the instructions and the cake stuck. Next time I will listen to myself and flour it. The cake taste good but was not very pretty
Step 1 says “spray pans with baking spray”
I did spray it as the directions said but it did not say to flour it
Baking spray co twins the flour …just fyi…otherwise it’s just canola/veg spray
Baking spray, Bakers Joy for example, already has flour and all ingredients needed. Therefore, no extra flour is needed on your pans, that’s why it is not listed!
Hello can you substitute 1:1 gluten free flour in the same ratio ?
Well. My family went crazy over this cake. I had a little problem with my ganache being then so I placed it in the refrigerator till it thickened up. Worked perfect. Not sure why I had the problem, I use ganache a lot. Anyway, I know I goofed somewhere. Still turned out perfect!
I made it with King Arthur GF flour and it turned out great
Glad to hear this!